Smolder
by Disney-for-the-Iron-Throne
Summary: Blayze, your not so average "noble" employs the infamous Captain Hook and his crew to aid her in her quest for a great knowledge. Their mutual dislike of each other becomes the crew's form of entertainment, that is until the it dies down and something… different begins to smolder in its place. [DISCONTINUED (But set to be an Original Story)]
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello! And welcome to Smolder! Book One of the Blazing Series!**

 **For those of you who read this OC before under the title of _Fathers be Good to Your Daughters,_ I completely uprooted that story line, and decided to take this in a whole other direction. **

**For those of you who are new, completely disregard that last statement.**

 **Either way, I believe that you will have fun with this story. It will be slowburn, though. I have never actually attempted to write slowburn, so we'll see how this turns out!**

 **I hope you all enjoy!**

 **I picture Blayze (or Delilah as she is referred to in this prologue) as Jenna Coleman.**

* * *

"What's past is prologue."

 _\- The Tempest_

* * *

"Delilah!"

With a jerk Delilah awoke, slowly the world coming back in to focus. Oh, god, had she fallen asleep? Bad form. Very bad form. Thank Christ it wasn't Regina shouting her name and awakening her from her little nap. She would never hear the end of it.

She looked up and saw Henry Mills, the boy she was currently supposed to be watching while his mother, Regina, took care of her duties as mayor, standing over her.

"Yes, Henry?" Delilah asked, smiling sleepily at her young charge. Her hair was stuck to her face with drool. How wonderful. She'd slobbered on Regina's nice couch cushions too. Greaaaat.

"Ms. Blanchard gave me a book today!" the child exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. He was such a brilliant boy, and so full of joy. Innocent. Unaware of the troubles and secrets of the world they lived in. He also made Regina a better person, which was a plus seeing as the woman no longer put herself first, but her adoptive son.

"Oh really?" inquired his babysitter, perching her chin on her hand. Mary Margaret was quite the unique person. She wanted everyone to be happy, and her way to make Henry happy was to give him a book. But why would he not be happy in the first place? Whenever she watched over him he was just a bundle of ecstasy. She could count on one hand the times she remembered him being somber, so what was wrong?

The boy nodded his head enthusiastically, "Yeah! It's a book of fairy tales!"

Fairy tales, hmm? She must have given him _Grimm Brothers_ or Hans Christian Anderson. All stories that she had heard before. Half of them she had lived. All of them weren't how the story actually goes, but she wasn't going to tell him that. So she smiled and said, "Fairy tales. How interesting. Did you enjoy them?"

"I… um… I actually haven't read any yet."

"Well, why ever not?" asked Delilah. "Stories are meant to be read and enjoyed. The words take you off to faraway lands, with princes and their fair maidens, or the courageous knight braving the fearsome dragon that turned out to be a cursed fairy all along, and you're telling me that you haven't read them."

"I was waiting to read them with you," he said almost shyly.

That was quite touching actually, that he didn't want to start reading his fairy tales without her. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Go get your book."

Henry beamed and ran up to his room to retrieve his newest possession. Not a minute later, he bounded down the stairs and plopped down beside her on the couch, placing the fairly large book on Delilah's lap.

She ran her fingers down its hard backed, leather bound front, and traced the _Once Upon a Time_ that had been stitched onto the cover. Never in her life had she seen something quite like this. Just from one glance she knew that this book was special. Opening the book proved to be even more to a shock. On the first page was a picture of two familiar faces, and upon skimming the story, she discovered that it was the story of Snow White. The _real_ story of Snow White. Banditry and everything. Wasn't this just an amazing discovery?!

She grinned, "Any story in particular you wish for me to read?"

Henry shook his head, "Nope, your choice."

She quickly flipped through the book's pages, searching for a picture that seemed familiar, or a phrase of words that she had heard spoken before. The story that she had been looking for was about halfway through the book and titled "The Pirate and the Snake." Probably not the most original title one could come up with for the tale in which it named, but that was alright. It was all about the story anyway.

And so Delilah began reading.

"Most people have heard of Captain Hook, the infamous pirate known for sailing the seas of Neverland and beyond, but not many have heard of his true love.

"To many she was known as the Snake, a sorceress of great power who would tell you anything you wanted so long as she got something in return. Others who lived in port towns and pirate islands knew her as Red Jessica, the pirate lass that was known to fall into many misadventures with her crew. Only a few, the few people whom she loved and trusted in the world, called her Blayze.

"Captain Hook and his Blayze do not have your typical love story. They didn't fall in love at first glance, something both of them found to be childish. Their love wasn't spontaneous. It didn't just happen with an accidental kiss or a near-death experience. For them it took time, something they both needed seeing as they both had a mutual hatred for the other when they first met.

"No, this story is a long one, and it all begins with a woman in search of knowledge and someone either brave enough or stupid enough to take her there."


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Captain Hook was not the pirate that Blayze had expected him to be. She had heard tales that portrayed him as a cutthroat that followed his own code of honor. One of the most infamous pirates to have ever sailed the realm. Instead she was faced with one of the most somber looking men she had ever had the pleasure of encountering. It almost made her rethink her decision in choosing him with how pitiful the man looked. He sat alone in the tavern, tucked away in a booth in a corner nursing a glass of rum. Every now and then he would glance around him, checking to make sure that his crew hadn't gotten too inebriated over the course of the night.

Even so, she still approached him cautiously. He was a pirate after all. She wasn't going to risk it even if he did look like someone had just kicked his puppy.

Blayze plopped down in the seat across from him, a smirk playing on her lips as Hook glanced up at her. She probably looked very out of place in the shady bar. Her attempt at blending in wasn't as good as she could have achieved, but that had been what she had been going for. She had rimmed her brown eyes with khol, and – much to her father's chagrin – wore a pair of breaches, but one could tell how expensive the fabrics her garments were crafted from were. She wasn't just some random peasant or bar wench looking to make his night a pleasing one. She was nobility, and she was to be treated as such.

Of course, he wasn't going to do that. In his mind, he was thinking that his pirate wits were going to outsmart the naïve little rich girl who decided that she was going to sit across from him.

And she was going to bask in the glory of her success when he finally realized that he wasn't dealing with some idiotic child. That's what one gets for making assumptions.

Blayze could see it in his eyes right now as he sized her up. He was belittling her. Let him think what he wanted. She would get what she wanted from him.

"Are we just going to stare at each other for the rest of the night?" demanded Blayze, cocking her eyebrow and crossing her arms. The sooner she could get what she desired, the sooner she could leave this gosforsaken tavern, and the sooner she could leave this godsforsaken tavern was the sooner that she no longer had to feel the stares of the drunk bastards that inhabited the establishment. Men had always disgusted her. Most only ever seemed to be after one thing, and turned into even more unsavory creatures when they didn't get it. Blayze herself had only ever known two men who weren't to scum of the earth. The very two men that she loved with all of and heart, and the two men she knew would never cause any harm to her and made sure that nothing ever happened that could hurt her. Her father and her twin brother.

"Figured you might be enjoying the view, lass," stated the pirate, a smirk crossing his admittedly handsome features. So this was to be the game that they were to play. How fun. Surprisingly, he didn't possess that lustful look in his eyes that most of the opposite sex gazed at her with. Maybe if he was a trust worthy person, she could add him to her list of good men.

Wait, what was she doing? Talking about adding him to her list of "good men"? The man had only spoken one sentence to her in the five minutes they had known each other. She hadn't even offered her name.

"Oh, really? And you weren't enjoying your view?" inquired Blayze, leaning forward on the table and making sure that her blouse was showing just the right amount of cleavage. It wasn't the original approach that she had been going for, but she might be able to shock him enough with her advances to outwit him into helping her. It would also help to convince her that he didn't get to stand on the same pedestal as her father and brother. This man had to be terrible. He was a pirate. The scourge of the sea. He was in no way going to be counted among her good men. Oh Blayze, what are you doing?

Hook wiped the smirk of his face, staring at her with a curious look in his cyan gaze. "What do you want?"

The woman grinned, even though on the inside she was frowning. He hadn't glanced down _at all._ "Ah finally, proper conversation. I thought it would take much longer to get here." Sarcasm. Sarcasm is also a good way to go about things. His easy cooperation with her tactics almost took the fun out of this whole thing. Was he always going to be like this? If so, she would just up and leave and go find herself another pirate to employ. No, she couldn't start lying to herself about that now. She wanted Hook – needed Hook to be the pirate to except her offer. He was the only pirate with a code she could actually agree with.

"Tell me what you require, _my lady_ , or kindly leave me alone to tend to my drink," said Hook, taking a fairly large swig from his cup of rum. Finally, the pirate she had been waiting to see all night. How nice. Now that he was slightly out his somber state of mind, they might actually be able to strike up some sort of deal. And she needed this deal greatly. Oh, her father was going to be so proud of her!

Resting her elbows on the table and perching her chin on her interlocked hands, Blayze stared at him for a moment. How was she took go about this? Straight out or vague details? He would probably not trust anyone who went for the latter of the two options, so straight out it was. Now it was all just a matter of wording. Wording was quite an easy skill to master, though, when you had a man like her father raising her. He taught her that words were as powerful a weapon as any other, and, that when they were used carefully and thoughtfully, could topple kingdoms or make men appear as gods. She wanted nothing close to those extremes, though. Just a few carefully phrased sentences to help her gain from him what she desired, and maybe a tiny display of her power to show him that she was going to get what she wanted no matter what he said.

And so, Blayze began weaving her web of semantics to create strong paragraphs made from her unbreakable threads of carefully placed nouns and adjectives to trap her prey inside. "I've heard a great deal of stories about you and your crew, Hook." She didn't really know if "stories" was the right word to use. It was more of going about every port city and determining which pirate was emblazoned in a light in which she could agree with. Hook's name had been the only one to really catch her attention.

The pirate scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Half of them are probably fantasies created by children, but do continue."

The woman scowled, she hated being interrupted. Her father would do it just to tease her. But she would let Hook have a pass. She did need him to be on her side after all. Maybe just a little bit of information not known to many to make him understand just how serious she was about this. She had seen her father use this tactic before and it always seemed to work. Even if you don't know much about the person in which you are trying to make agree to a deal with you, if you know even one simple thing that not very many people know, it is much easier to make that other person more agreeable. People are very quick to assume, and they assume that if you know one thing, then you know everything.

"How is it one sails for thirty years, and still retains his youth? I have heard tales of a Fountain of Youth, but I believed it to be in a land without magic. Or maybe, you spend a great deal of your time in a realm where time stands still, hmm? Is it the Neverseas that are keeping you so young, _captain_?" She found the reaction she was looking for when she saw him tense and his eyes gleaming with mistrust. He wouldn't be interrupting again. She was not the little mouse of a woman that he assumed her to be. She could handle whatever he threw at her. People always seemed to underestimate women. Women could be just as cunning as men, and most of the time even more so.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice much gruffer than it had been before. He was putting a wall up, she could tell. He was very confused too. Who was this woman? And how did she know so much about him? She didn't know much, really. She just so happened to have a… personal relationship with the demon child known as Peter Pan.

"Does is it truly matter who I am, Hook?" asked Blayze. Display of power now? Yes, that sounded good. She didn't need him questioning who she was. If he figured out who she was, then he would never want to work with her. And so she snapped her fingers, a velvet bag full of gold coins appearing in her hand out of a plume of red smoke. "I didn't come here to chat, I came to make a deal. Shall we discuss terms?"

Hook smirked, "I refuse to discuss the terms of a deal with a _girl_ who will not give me her name."

Blayze huffed, but consented. If it took a title for him to call her then she would give him one. So she offered a name. Not her name, of course, but the first one that she could think of. "Jessica. My name is Jessica. You may call me Jess."

"The pleasure is mine, _Jess."_ The way he drew out her name made her realize that he knew that this was not her true name, but he said nothing, and snatched the velvet bag from her fingers to peek inside. He laughed at the amount, almost disbelievingly, "You must be quite wealthy. You could feed an entire kingdom for a month with the amount that's in here." She did have a fair amount of money. Having a father such as hers came with both good and bad. One of those good things was that many people came to her father for help, some carrying as much money as they could as payment. And sometimes her father did except their money. He had other ways of acquiring his wealth also. Magic came with its perks too.

"I know, and there's more from where that came from if you do as I ask." The sorceress fought back the smirk that threatened to split her features at how his eyes widened. Another thing that she had learned from her father, was that everyone came with a price. Some may say that they don't, but they're lying through the skin of their teeth. Even the noblest of men fall to their knees with the promise of a large sum of money. Some men had higher rates than others, but she knew the amount that she had shown Captain Hook was just enough to make him think.

"I'm listening," said Hook, setting the bag gently on the table, the coins inside clinking against each other. "What is it you would have me do?"

Finally after all of these years of research and planning, she would be able to begin her quest for the treasure that she desired. One of the greatest sources of knowledge one could ever possess. And so, grinning giddily like a child, she answered, "I need you to take me to Asgard."

Captain Hook stared at her for a full minute before he finally burst out into laughter. "You can't be serious," he chuckled.

She stared at him aghast. He was mocking her? How dare he! He had no right! "Of course I'm being serious!"

That made his laughter die down, for now he looked at her as though she were insane. "You can't seriously expect me to take you to _Asgard_ ," the man whispered, as if even mentioning the land would bring a curse down upon his head. "The people there believe themselves to be gods." He wasn't wrong about that. Asgard was a land with magic that very few people from their realm had ever been brave enough to visit. Even portal jumpers feared the land, careful to make sure that they never encountered one of the realm's inhabitants whenever they dared to travel there. The people there were very powerful magic users and, in some lands, were revered as gods.

She had known that the realm existed, but ten years ago, she happened to stumbled upon a book in her father's vast library. It spoke of tales of a great white snake who knew many things slithering through the forests of Asgard. For ten years she had researched this snake, finding any piece of parchment she could with mentions of the creature. Sadly, she found very little. Everything she had ever found on the creature stated the same thing as the last piece of information she had discovered. A great white snake. Clever. Possesses great knowledge. Resides in the forests of Asgard. It became very repetitive. So she decided that she would find this snake and see what she could learn about it for herself. She'd even thought about keeping the reptile as a pet.

This quest for her snake would be the first time she would do something on her own. All of the other times she had ever accomplished anything great, it had been her father's will. But this would be the very first time that she would ever do anything that hadn't previously been her father's bidding. This would be the very first time that she was going to do something, and her father wasn't there to help her.

And her first step in getting there was looking at her like she should be locked away in the highest tower of the farthest castle for even suggesting such a thing.

"I'll give you anything you want if you just… take me there." Blayze almost cringed at how her voice sounded. She was begging, that was an odd thing for her. She rarely ever begged. She begged a great deal when she was younger. She still begged her father every once and a while when she truly wanted something, like how she had begged him to seek out a pirate to take her on this journey, knowing that he would agree. She wanted this more than anything else she had ever wanted, (well, there was one thing that she wanted more than life itself, but right now is not a time to be dwelling on that) so she would beg if it would get her what she wanted. And she may have been layering the pitifulness on a little bit thicker than what she actually felt. If she couldn't get through to him by appearing to be the woman that could stand on his level, then she would downplay herself and act the part of the woman in desperate need of him taking her to this place. The "damsel in distress" always seemed to work on men. It played on their egos and sense of masculinity.

But Captain Hook wasn't going to have any of it. He knew what she was doing, like he had seen her do it before. Now that he actually thought about it, the woman sitting across from him was very familiar. Very familiar.

"You would never be able to give me what I want," he snorted, actually snorted like what she had just said was funny. She guessed it could be. She did sound pretty pathetic. It was made worse by the fact that he wasn't going to play her games.

"You don't know that," argued the woman. She didn't know why, but she just knew the Captain Hook was the pirate that needed to take her to Asgard. Something inside of her was just telling her that she could trust this pirate to get her to where she needed to go. "You haven't actually told me what it is that you want."

"Do you truly know want to know what it is I want?" She nodded, but she didn't know why. Hell, she didn't even know why the man was telling her his heart's desire. Maybe it was something he told everyone. But that didn't seem right. Out of all the port towns she had visited, she had never heard them mention the story of Captain Hook. Most said that the man was out sniffing for revenge, but they never stated what that revenge entailed or who had wronged him in the first place. So why was he going to tell her?

If Hook was being completely honest with himself, her familiarity was haunting him. But that still didn't explain why he was sitting here, about to tell this young girl, who couldn't be any older than nineteen, his entire life story. He wouldn't tell her the whole story of course. A simple summary of why he wanted his revenge would suffice for now. Maybe it was the fact that they were going to be stuck with each other for months while they traveled to Asgard, that he decided that she might as well know the same story his crew did.

But right before he open his mouth to speak, he changed his mind. What the hell was he doing? He was going to burden this… this child with his need for revenge? He may be a pirate, but he did have morals.

And so instead he asked her, "Have you ever lost someone that you loved very dearly?"

Her immediate answer of "Yes" surprised him.

And that is when he decided that he had found a kindred spirit within this girl, and that he was going to take her all the way to Asgard so that she might claim her prize. The coin was an added bonus too.

"We sail at dawn. Be there, or you will get left behind." And then he left, whether it was to check on his crew or something else didn't cross Blayze's mind.

She had actually done it.

She'd made a deal with the pirate.

She was going to go to Asgard.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you have enjoyed this story so far!**

 **Truthfully, I didn't plan to publish this story until April 2, but I felt the desire to post so I did.**

 **Again, I hope this story has entertained you so far, even though we are just a chapter in.**

 **Reviews are a gift that, if you are willing to give them, I will receive wholeheartedly, whether they be _constructive_ criticism or just popping in to say hello.**

 **And on that note, my friends, I bid you farewell.**

 **Until next time...**


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

They had been sailing for a week now, and Captain Hook had yet to divulge to her where exactly they were headed. When they had first set sail, he had asked her how she planned on getting the Jolly Roger to their destination. Blayze had informed him that it would probably be wise to use some form of transportation other than the magic beans he had suggested, seeing as how almost all of those who traveled to Asgard from other realms were captured upon arrival. That had to mean that there was some sort of warding guarding the realm that alerted the inhabitants of any magical interference, so they just had to find a way past it. There were plenty of natural portals that existed. Her father shown her one that rested near his castle just in case she ever needed to make use of it. But that's the problem with magic such as portal; you very rarely have an inkling of an idea as to where they lead. If they were able to find one that actually lead to Asgard, they would be able to sneak into the realm and no one would be none the wiser.

And so, Captain Hook inquired if she knew where one of these portals could be.

"Well... no." Those were the only words Blayze had uttered before Hook rolled his eyes and stalked off, muttering something about reckless little girls.

She was not a little girl!

And thus began their constant insulting of the other.

He irked her nerves! He constantly teased her and treated her like child! Never farther than that though, which she should probably be thankful for. At least he knew when to stop.

Of course, she didn't really treat him any better.

"He still hasn't told you our bearings, Miss Jess?"

"Of course not, Mr. Smee," Blayze sighed. Mr. Smee seemed to be the only person on this ship who didn't find her and the captain's antics to be entertaining. He had been the one that she had gone to to ask where they were going, only to discover that Hook had ordered the crew not to tell her.

Smee smiled kindly at her, "Well, don't worry. We'll be there soon."

* * *

And arrive soon they did. When Blayze walked out on deck the next morning, their was an island so close out on the horizon. She ran to the bow of the ship just to be closer to the land mass. Dolphins called up to her as they swam in the currents made by the ship. She smiled at the pod, and used her magic to make rings of water for the creatures to jump through.

Blayze turned when she heard someone behind her chuckle, and found a certain captain watching her. "Having fun?" he asked, perching himself beside her.

"Dolphins are always fun."

"Of course they are, girlie." The captain smirked when he got the glare he was wanting from her. It was terribly fun to pick on her. "We should be arriving soon. Within the hour."

"What is this place anyway?" asked Blayze. She couldn't distract herself with the dolphins now. They had swam off to greet another pod.

"Welcome, milady, to the island of Delfín."

* * *

A/N: Well, Hello Hello Hello! It's been quite a while, hasn't it dears? And a wait for what is most likely the shortest and most disappointing chapter that I have ever written. I wanted it to be much, much, much, much, muuuuuch longer, but I didn't have any idea as to how to that without diving into things that I don't want to get into until next chapter.

So anyway, tiny chapter, but that's perfectly okay!

Until next time!

Reviews are greatly appreciated.


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